Each year the Board of Trustees recognizes a well-known, prominent senior figure who has made important contributions to the field of American music by granting an honorary membership. This honor is signified by a certificate and public ceremony that confers life membership in the Society, with all rights and benefits.

Click on the link for more information about the Society's honorary members:

2005: Pauline Oliveros

2004: Chris Strachwitz

2003: Mike Seeger

2002: Loretta Lynn

2001: Hollis Urban Liverpool

2000: Oscar Peterson

2000: Georgia Sea Island Singers

1999: Van Cliburn

1998: Libby Larsen

1997: Gerard Schwarz

1996: Leonard Slatkin

1995: Gunther Schuller

1994: Max Roach

1993: Lou Harrison*

1992: John Cage

1991: Frederick Fennell*

1989: Bill Monroe

1988: Carleton Sprague Smith

1987: H. Earle Johnson*

1986: Vera Brodsky Lawrence

1985: Gilbert Chase

1984: Irving Lowens*

1983: Otto E. Albrecht*

1982: Wilfrid Mellers

1982: Virgil Thomson*

1981: Howard Hanson*

1980: Lester S. Levy*

1979: Nicolas Slonimsky*

* Deceased